Inquiry hears how car killed rally fans died

Friday night, Duns town centre stage of 2014 Jim Clark Rally'.

Published:17:00Wednesday 02 August 2017

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The joint fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of three people at 2014’s Jim Clark Rally and a spectator at 2013’s Snowman Rally at Inverness has started hearing evidence about the Berwickshire tragedy.

A rally fan told the inquiry how he ran away from a car moments before it struck him and killed three other people.

Donald Martin, 64, told Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday that he became anxious after seeing the vehicle lose control during the rally.

The inquiry heard that the car lost control on landing after becoming airborne over a humpback bridge.

Mr Martin, a retired lecturer from Renfrewshire, recalled the moments before the collision to crown lawyer Andrew Brown.

He said: “I saw it coming over the bridge, and I started to run. The next thing I could remember was that I was lying face down in the field. I smashed all my ribs. I could hear my son say ‘stay with me’. I can remember hearing sounds – somebody beside me was receiving CPR.”

He was giving evidence at the inquiry into the deaths of Iain Provan, 64, Elizabeth Allan, 63, and Len Stern, 71.

He told Mr Brown how he and his friends had ended up standing together to see the rally at Swinton, directly opposite where a car had gone off into a field earlier that day.

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Mr Martin said he felt safer on that side and there was red safety tape marking an area for spectators.

He told the inquiry that Mr Provan was taking photographs of the rally and was standing on the wrong side of the safety tape in the moments before he was killed.

He added: “He was doing this because he wanted to get the best possible photographs.”

In the moments before the collision, Mr Martin said that another car had lost control after coming over a hump backed bridge.